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Extremes

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:11-22

I.In March, 2000, Mona Charen wrote an article that appeared in the Omaha World Herald
under the title “Nation With No Sin”

A.In it she made the point that while the nation for the most part believes in God and
believes religion is important, at the same time we have become a society that is
very reluctant to make moral judgments

1.In a pamphlet for young people, published by the United Churches of
Christ: “Loving myself is at the heart of living, loving, and growing. ... To
love oneself is holy.”

2.Presbyterians have stated that they “reject ‘handing out absolutes,’ for
these can be ‘a disservice to youth.’”

3.A rabbi for the Reformed branch of Judaism stated, “Sin isn’t one of our
issues. My guess is that in 12 years of religious school, our kids will never
hear the word.”

4.A principal of a Catholic school concerning sin said, “Oh no, that kind of
language would not relate to them anyway. When I was growing up, I
personally might have responded to someone if they said ‘Hey, this is a
sin.’ Today though I don’t think that young people would respond to that.
The most you can say to them is ‘That is not allowed.’”

II.We have lost a standard of righteous absolutes

A.In its place we have substituted other standards: our opinions, our conscience,
avoiding imagined offenses (the politically correct crowd), and psychology

B.Oh, but we still think of ourselves as religious and righteous

1.Look at the fervor of the PETA group. They constantly use terms of
morality and ethics, they claim justification in the Bible, but when their
flawed reasoning is exposed, well it doesn’t matter, they “know” they are
right.

2.Chanting that “love” is the standard, activist groups have been pushing
acceptance of homosexuality and winning the hearts of society. It is “the
right thing to do.”

C.There is a passage dealing with making moral decisions that often confuses people
- Ecclesiastes 7:15-22

1.How can a person be overly righteous? Is that our aim, to be righteous
before God? So how can a person over do what he is supposed to do?

2.And overly wicked. Does that imply that you can have some wickedness?
Should it say don’t be wicked period?

III.Overly Righteous - Ecclesiastes 7:15-16

A.No forgiveness of sins in self or others

1.A person who sets up for himself a goal of living a perfect, sinless life is
setting himself up for failure.

2.Don’t think too highly of self - Romans 12:3

a.A example - Luke 18:12

3.We don’t accept the fact that even good people sin - Ecclesiastes 7:20

4.A denial of sin is a denial of reality - I John 1:8-10

B.More restrictive than God

1.Some strive so hard not to sin that they become afraid of doing anything.

a.Like the man with one talent - Matthew 25:24-25

b.In trying not to commit sin, they sin by omission - James 4:17

2.Paul was righteous and wrong - Philippians 3:6

a.He followed the law, but he ignored the change it predicted.

3.Focusing on only part of the law - Matthew 23:23

a.Getting one part down really well, but to the neglect of the rest

4.The Jews tried so hard to please God that they made rules to make sure
they followed God’s laws.

a.Making more requirements than God - Matthew 9:14

b.Fasting was required in the Old Testament, but the Jews required it
more often than God and for the wrong reasons.

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